In water purification, in particular for laboratory use, containers are commonly used that contain a medium that purifies the water. These containers are also called cartridges.
In this context the water to be purified is often passed through a filter of, for example, activated charcoal or an ion exchanger in a first purification stage, while in a second purification stage the water to be purified is passed through a reverse osmosis module.
Additional purification elements, such as, for example, a frit or a UV lamp or another ion exchanger can be added.
Due to space constraints the first purification stage is integrated with the second purification stage into a common unit.
If the first purification stage and the second purification stage are housed in separate housings, then this arrangement is not optimal due to the lack of space. In addition, both stages must be connected to each other hydraulically, which connection may be error-prone (for example, hose connection).
A concentric arrangement of the two purification stages in one housing (for example, the second purification stage in the form of a channel that is surrounded by the first purification stage in a concentric manner) is disclosed, for example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 8,414,767.
However, such an arrangement is not optimal for hydrodynamic reasons, because in this respect the external purification stage has a poor surface area to volume ratio, an aspect that has a negative effect on the flow and contacting of the material and, as a result, has an adverse effect on the adsorption. Moreover, such an arrangement also poses manufacturing problems.
The same kinds of drawbacks are also inherent in an embodiment, in which each of the two purification stages is arranged in the form of a half cylinder in a cylindrical housing. In addition, there is the drawback that a semi-cylindrical cross section does not lend itself to accommodating commercially available reverse osmosis modules that have a circular cross section.
Therefore, one object of the present invention is to provide a purification device for water, where in this case said purification device has a first and second purification medium and does not exhibit the aforementioned drawbacks.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a purification device for water, where in this case said purification device has a first and second purification medium and dimensions that are more compact.
Therefore, another object of the present invention is to provide a purification device for water, where in this case said purification device has a first and second purification medium and is suitable for accommodating commercially available reverse osmosis modules without causing hydrodynamic problems.
These and other objects of the present invention are achieved with the methods and/or devices described herein. Value ranges, which are defined by numerical values, shall always include the said limit values.